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There's a reason presidential candidates are prone to grandiosity and speeches more befitting a life coach: Americans have oversized expectations of their chief executive. "We crave a spiritual superhero, not just someone who will 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution,'" says Gene Healy, a vice president at the Cato Institute.

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Leading groups of adult learners can be difficult and requires a deliberate effort to build trust from the teacher team's facilitator or coach, transformational leadership coach Elena Aguilar writes in this blog post. "Do whatever you can to pave the path for trust to flourish and then be patient. It takes time," Aguilar advises.

Successful bosses must command the respect of the people they're trying to lead, says Avery Johnson, coach of the New Jersey Nets. There are many ways to earn that respect, Johnson says, but the most important is to be consistently loyal to your team. "My guys know I'm a rock that they can lean on for all of the highs and lows," Johnson says.

New graduates entering the workforce are in for a rocky time, Marshall Goldsmith says. They must prepare for the full impact of globalization on their careers. "You will be expected to know more and work harder, and you will be expected to keep learning in your increasingly precious spare time," he says.

Goldsmith also throws in a financial tip: "Unless you are rich, don't buy the flat-screen TV," he says.

The next time you're stuck in traffic, ponder this: Europe is shrinking. Deaths will outnumber births in the European Union starting in 2015 and total population will begin to slide in 2035. By 2060, the number of young children will drop from 77 million to 71 million, a new study finds, but the number of people over 80 will triple. The plunging young-to-old ratio endangers Europe's pension and health care systems.

Some companies have become so good at cost-cutting and streamlining that they can't create new products or move into emerging markets. To achieve cost-effective growth, leaders must recognize the organizational designs that are holding the company back. This article focuses on the consumer packaged-goods industry, but the constraints it identifies are ubiquitous.